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Monthly Archives: September 2017

My first marathon was an impulsive decision I made in my 20’s before my frontal lobe was fully developed. Since that first marathon, I have run a total of 5 marathons and was celebrating a conscious uncoupling from marathons for the past 10 years.

The first time I ran a marathon

iPhones did not exist

Texting was fancy

I listened to music on an MP3 (because the iPod was a passing fad)

I had 2 weeks to train.

I was a young mom with three babies, 4-years old and under. I had survived three high-risk pregnancies with three healthy girls and was a trainer in a gym. I was living the miracle and felt a little invincible.

I had two weeks to train. I had no idea I was even on Heartbreak Hill during the marathon. I decided that when you are not running really fast it does not matter as much. I did not know how many miles was in an actual marathon. There was no “search engine” to fully understand what a marathon entails. My training was a 9 mile run the weekend before and a chat with an experienced runner on the bus ride to Hopkinton. That bus ride probably saved me a trip to the hospital that day. Who knew those water stations were important?

Currently, at 44 my life and legs have changed. My girls are calling me excited about their college classes. My father is not available to get nervous about my crazy life choices. And, my life has helped prepare me for this marathon. I made the decision to run this time for, Cal, my running motivation.

The training was going great until July. I had to take a month off because of weakness in my left leg and the summer heat. Today I finally felt strong enough to run a solid distance. It takes a lot of planning for me to run that distance, now. I don’t understand how my body works but with a fully developed frontal lobe, I am very careful.

I decided to add caffeine to my life again and only drink one cup of tea before my run. I am still intermittent fasting which means it has to be timed perfectly in the day. I am trying to add more yoga to my schedule. Today I crushed my 10 miles in under 90 minutes and was able to work a full day, walk the dogs, bathe the dogs, fold laundry and clean my house(“clean” might be a generous description of my house..cleaner is more appropriate).

I am thrilled that I hit my goal this morning and I am ready for next week. My goal is 11 miles.

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“I have been eating your turkey chili for years and haven’t lost any weight.”

“I stopped eating bananas and my weight still goes up.”

…and this is why I don’t love sitting down and doing one nutrition session. People usually pick and chose advice and get frustrated with the results. Personally, I eat bananas and I don’t just eat turkey chili, but I am cautious with my sugar even from fruit and I enjoy my turkey chili. I create recipes by looking on the internet and modifying them to fit in my plan. Success is not about one recipe or one piece of advice. Success is all about habits and lifestyle.

So, I thought I would review a day of eating on the road when I don’t have time to cook and I am not super careful. Currently, I am intermitting fasting with means I only eat for 8 hours in the day.

The day starts with herbal tea and water because I gave up caffeine…. I am not sure if this is a keeper but I am trying life without caffeine for 28 days.

11:30 My husband bought me donuts because we happened to be in a town with a 5-star donut shop. I have a donut shop yelp rule because I really love donuts. I had one bite of chocolate donut and one bite of coconut donut and hid the rest in his car.

I drank 3 bottles of 16 oz of water

1:00 We stopped off at a new restaurant in an unfamiliar town. I ate steak tips with a side of steamed broccoli and a baked potato.

7:00 pm and I am home. I make my favorite breakfast while I eat a freshly picked apple. I cooked my sugar-free bacon in a cast iron skillet. I used the bacon grease to saute kale. I cooked two eggs in the kale and covered the eggs with 1/4 of an avocado.

I bought my daughter some wonton soup because she had a nasty cough. I ate her soup broth with all the greens.

I thought about waking up my husband and asking if he knew where the rest of the donuts were but I stopped myself.

I drank at least 3 more bottles of 16 oz of water.

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Breaking up is hard to do, but last week it felt great. I just renegotiated my relationship with my neurologist. Six years ago I started my journey with MS. I was tired and weak. Last week, I asked my doctor if we could stop seeing each other every six months. It was a long road to get to that appointment

No, I was not pregnant in this picture. I was getting ready to send my oldest daughter off to college and I was exhausted, stressed and very sick but life did not allow me to make any changes. I was on a crazy roller coaster for the past six years with many ups and downs.

I made many changes in the past six years but this photo was the BIG change. I knew that I needed to cut stress out my life and make a complete overhaul with my nutrition. I told my doctor that I was not going take any meds after I snapped this picture.

Yesterday, I validated my decisions and I bumped up my MRI to every two years instead of every year. I will visit with my neurologist every year instead of every six months. I am still med-free. I continue to read my body and make adjustments.

I have learned to run from stress and make the necessary adjustments to my nutrition and fitness.

Two months earlier I was hurting. My left leg was weak and my knee was killing. My pain was around a 7 and I was tired. I tweaked my life and it worked. I quickly eliminated stress. I was careful with my distance runs. I focused on some balance exercises and added more yoga. My favorite change was intermittent fasting.

I don’t have the perfect plan for success. My emergency phone tree is completely different. The quantity and quality of my support network were overhauled. I love my new village! I will continue to make adjustments and I am little excited for the next chapter but I am cautious.

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After my husband bought his first iPod, I reprimanded him for being suckered into spending money on a fleeting product. I don’t trust new things. I hate following trends and I am anti-establishment. I am difficult to manage and opinionated.

I have been faithfully pushing and following 6 meals a day for years. I have been taught that it is the best way to support a strong metabolism. When I heard about intermittent fasting a few years ago, I was not interested. Anything that involves the word fasting feels dangerous unless God is involved. My co-workers were raving about the benefits for years, but they were all guys. My daughter lost 20 pounds doing intermittent fasting but she considers ketchup a vegetable. My other daughter started to send articles on the neurological benefits of intermittent fasting and hmm. So when I was struggling with injuries, weakness, and brain fog I considered making a change to my nutrition.

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my breakfast routine. I linger around the kitchen perfecting my bacon while watching CNN and FOX News. How could such a beautiful routine be anything but beneficial? The only way I could have survived the past year of morning news was my regular dose of bacon.

I impulsively made a decision to start intermittent fasting over a week ago. I rushed home to finish my dinner by 7 pm. It took a lot of self-control to make changes to my nightly routine but I stopped myself from grabbing another spear of asparagus and so it began.

I am loving this new plan. I have so much energy and more time in the day. I believe we should all become students of our own body. The first few days were not great but things started to change. My family knows not to call me 15 minutes before my feeding. My girls compare me to a vampire because of my attitude toward to 8-hour feeding schedule. Only two weeks in and I am not as crazy. I am more relaxed and my pain is gone. My brain feels different. I have my six-month neurology appointment on Thursday and I am feeling pretty good about my choices.

You can google “the importance of 6 meals a day” and find a lot more articles promoting the benefits. I would encourage you to watch the youtube video at 13.58 and research the research. No one should tell us how to think because they don’t know how we feel.